Single Moment
by lostmoonchild
Summary: A single moment can change the course of the future forever.  In that moment, he chose to give her a second chance at life.


lostmoonchild: It's a new Inuyasha fic! Okay, it's a oneshot but the point of the matter is that it's a new fic. I could have posted this tomorrow since my update days are actually on Fridays but my thing for tomorrow may be: home, email, bed. Updating just doesn't seem like it's gonna be an option tomorrow night so I'm updating before bed on Thursday. Enjoy, my brain came up with this some time ago and it just got finished last night when I was half asleep.

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha.

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><p>Single Moment<p>

He was old enough that he had seen what a single moment could do to a battle and knew not to hesitate. Hesitation would mean defeat and perhaps death. Hesitation also meant that he'd lose whatever prize he sought after and he had been proven right when he lost Tetsusaiga to his wretched half-breed brother.

Sesshomaru wasn't one to worry about trivial things such as that. He knew the time would come when Inuyasha hesitated for a single moment yet again and it would be that hesitation that would result in his death. Then when Inuyasha was dead, Sesshomaru knew that he could take the Tetsusaiga as his.

Sesshomaru was silent as he watched Rin sleeping with an almost fascination as he watched her eyes move beneath her eyelids. If someone had told him that he'd take an interest in watching a human child sleep at night then he would have stabbed the messenger repeatedly. Now the figurative messenger was safe since there was no point in stabbing someone for what was true unless he didn't want that revealed.

Rin's small form settled down as her dream came to a peaceful end, a small smile gracing her lips. It was almost enough to make Sesshomaru wonder what the girl was dreaming about although if he had to guess then he'd say that she was dreaming about being with him forever. Her love for him was almost concerning although he supposed that it wasn't _that_ bad. She kept him amused with her tactics regarding pulling Jaken into her little games. If he had known that she'd be so amusing before she died, he would have done anything to make sure she hadn't died.

A frown suddenly showed on Sesshomaru's face as he suddenly thought of something. He remembered seeing her small body lying on the ground after Kouga's wolves had gone through the village, killing everybody in sight. The light that had shone so brightly in Rin had been gone and for a single moment he had hesitated. Did he bring her back or did he just leave her body to rot?

Before he really caught on, the choice had been made. He remembered feeling anxious as he watched for any signs that his hesitation had prevented the child from coming back. If she ever asked him why he had chosen to give her a second chance, could he tell her the truth instead of telling her that he felt obligated? Could he ever tell her that he just wasn't ready to see her kindness vanish when the world around them was losing what kindness it once held?

Sesshomaru knew that Rin had deserved a second chance. Those villagers had beaten her and despite all that, she had held onto what kindness she could and gave it to him not expecting anything in return. The world needed what she had to offer and he couldn't bring himself to deny the world, to deny himself, what was so desperately needed.

Now he was grateful that her light continued to shine on and grow brighter with each passing day. She had seen so many terrible things when traveling with him but still she remained untainted. It was as if no amount of darkness could ruin what she had to give.

Some part of him supposed that he should be upset over coveting her from the human race but overall he felt nothing. They didn't care for her like he did and every day he proved it. He protected her and ensured that she had food and clothing while all those wretched humans gave her was misery.

Now that he thought about it, Rin had hesitated too. She had hesitated for a moment when she first saw him but after that there were no hesitations. There was just unwavering trust that he would keep her safe and she seemed to enjoy the time that was spent at his side.

Was it strange, he wondered, for a human to want to spend their entire lifetime with a demon? Rin was so young, there was no way she could know what she wanted now when she had a few short decades ahead of her. Did she not realize that her lifespan was nothing compared to his? Did she even realize that he couldn't keep her from dying? Surely she couldn't assume that he could keep her alive forever.

No, she didn't assume that. She acknowledged that one day she would die and she had even asked him if he would miss her. That made him wonder if he would miss her after she died.

Sesshomaru kept watching his young charge as she rolled over, a soft sigh leaving her lips. He didn't want to admit that he would miss her but he couldn't very well deny it to his own heart. Rin had taken her place in his life and there really was nothing he wouldn't do for her.

How many times, he wondered, had he gone to save her? She reminded him of his half-brother's bitch, that miko that wore such inappropriate clothes. Both ningen females had an aura of innocence that surrounded them and still darkness never seemed to be able to touch them. They were too pure for Naraku's darkness or even the darkness that life tended to bring.

Rin would be in his life for decades but it would still feel as if she had been with him for only a moment. A fleeting chapter in his life that he couldn't stop from leaving. He had coveted her from the other humans but in the end, time would covet her from him.

If he blinked for only a moment, Sesshomaru was fairly certain that he would miss some vital moment in Rin's life. In a moment, a memory could be made that he could carry with him for as long as he lived. If he closed his eyes for too long, that moment would be gone and with that moment, Rin would be too.

In a single moment, battles could be won or lost. If he were to look away for a single moment, Sesshomaru knew that within that single moment he would lose Rin to either time or some other human. He had tried to keep his distance but that had failed. The fear of missing a single moment of her life when in the very moment he chose not to watch Rin could lose her life had eventually won out.

So, yes, he supposed that a single moment won battles or even lost them. He knew that his foolish half-brother would die the moment he hesitated a moment too long. A moment meant nothing to demons but they meant everything to a human but as Sesshomaru watched Rin begin to dream once more, he knew that he could never turn away from this child for a single moment knowing that a single moment was all the human child was ever meant to last in his life but it was for as long as he lived that her memory would continue on.

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><p>lostmoonchild: Okay, bedtime for lostmoonchild so oyasumi and please leave a review!<p> 


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